Political Quotes

“I come to the floor today to join my colleague Senator Collins from Maine, who will be here shortly, who is also my cochair of the Diabetes Caucus, to reintroduce the Improving Medicare Beneficiary Access to Innovative Diabetes Technologies Act. This is legislation that would establish a task force to provide recommendations to help guide Medicare's decisions on coverage and payment for new technologies to improve the lives of people with diabetes. I have had the opportunity to see the challenges that families with members who have type 1 diabetes face. My granddaughter, my oldest granddaughter, has type 1 diabetes, and I know the challenges her family faces navigating a complex web of insurance coverage rules for technologies. Anytime a new technology comes out that would benefit her, to get the insurance companies to adopt those technologies is a huge challenge, and it requires hours of phone time with the insurance company, trying to persuade them that they should provide the coverage. Well, we know that these insurance companies often base their coverage and reimbursement rules on Medicare. That is why it is so important for the Medicare Program to keep pace with the development of new diabetes technologies and devices. I appreciate the opportunity to work with Senator Collins on a regular basis in the Diabetes Caucus.…”